274 Franks
In 939 Eberhard launched a revolt against OTTOI,
denying his pretension to a royal title. He was defeated
and killed. Otto divided Franconia into several units and
granted much of its territory to bishops and abbots allied
to him. The remaining portion and the ducal title were
granted to a related branch of the Conradines, the SALIAN
dynasty, whose leader, Conrad the Red (r. 944–953),
duke of Lotharingia, married Otto’s daughter, Liudgard.
From 1024, when Conrad II, the duke of Franconia, was
elected emperor, the Salians reigned over the empire until
- During this period, Franconia was the base of
imperial power, but it began to lose its traditional charac-
ter. Although the ducal title was usually granted on a
temporary basis to a relative of the emperor, the major
portion of the duchy was controlled by the churches and
other vassals. Several towns were granted the status of
imperial cities.
In 1168 FREDERICKI BARBAROSSAgave the ducal title
to a bishop of Würzburg. However, that title no longer rep-
resented or came with any real power. Franconia was then
split into two large areas. In the west was the principality
of the counts of the Palatinate of the Rhine. The eastern
section was divided among the bishops of Würzburg, the
city of Nuremberg, and the counts of Babenberg. The cities
on the Rhine obtained their own rights and, at the begin-
ning of the 13th century, established a state called the Con-
federation of the Rhine. During the later chaotic
interregnum in Germany between 1250 and 1272, Franco-
nia was further split into the numerous principalities and
free cities as it was to remain far beyond the Middle Ages.
Further reading:Horst Fuhrmann, Germany in the
High Middle Ages, c. 1050–1200(Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1986); Alfred Haverkamp, Medieval Ger-
many, 1056–1273,2d ed., trans. Helga Braun and Richard
Mortimer (1984; reprint, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1988).
Franks They were an ethnically diverse group of Ger-
manic tribes who conquered Roman Gaul in the fifth cen-
tury, but their region of origin has remained unclear. The
sixth-century historian GREGORYof Tours thought they
had initially settled at the mouth of the Rhine and were
originally from PANNONIAor around the middle Danube
River. Modern scholars have posited Scandinavia as their
original home. Legends claimed ancient Troy.
Belonging to the most westerly subgroup of the West
Germans, the Franks as an identified people appeared
under that name from the mid-third century as a gradu-
ally coalescing military league or confederation of tribes,
taking their name from the Old Norse word meaning
“bold” or “courageous.”
ENTRANCE INTO THE ROMAN EMPIREUntil the great barbarian invasions between 406 and 407,
most of the Franks lived outside the empire. Other
Rhineland tribes confronted Rome more directly, but
these coastal tribes became known for their acts of piracy
just as their Frisian and Saxon neighbors did. In the late
third century, the Western Frankish tribes abandoned
maritime activities and moved into the modern Nether-
lands, able to do so because of the abandonment of these
marshy territories by the Romans. However, the Romans
stopped this progress in the fourth century in modern
Belgium or BRABANT.
“Franks” also had lived in the empire from the
third century. Some had been defeated and settled in
Gaul as subject peoples. They were liable to military
service and were granted lands to cultivate for the ben-
efit of the state or other great proprietors. Still others
were hired as a group as auxiliaries for the Roman army
in EGYPTor the Near East. Some had impressive mili-
tary careers for the emperor Valentinian I (r. 364–375)
and as the military tutor of the emperor Valentinian II
(r. 375–387).
The Eastern or Rhineland Franks or Ripuarians
continued to attack the Roman garrisons of upper
Germany. On several occasions, they even temporarily
captured the Romanized cities of COLOGNE, Mainz,
and Trier, but they never effectively controlled the left
bank of the middle Rhine. In the fifth century, the
Franks were officially considered federates,the status
assigned to Rome’s barbarian allies, and they joined
the successful coalition against ATTILAand the HUNS
in 451.CONQUEST OF GAUL
The conquest of Gaul, carried out by Clovis in 486–487,
was not accompanied by intensive colonization and set-
tlement. With the exception of the regions along the left
bank of the Rhine, LATINremained the common lan-
guage of Gaul. The Franks imposed their rule but
remained a minority. From the second half of the sixth
century, the inhabitants of the northern half of Gaul
were all called Franci;the Romanimade up the southern
half of the country. From the time of Clovis, the Franks
were associated with the Merovingian and Carolingian
dynasties. Christian crusaders were often called “Franks”
during the Crusades.
See alsoCHARLEMAGNE; CHARLESMARTEL; MEROVIN-
GIAN DYNASTY; PÉPINIII THESHORT.
Further reading:Bernard S. Bachrach, trans., Liber
historial Francorum(Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado, 1973);
Gregory, Bishop of Tours, History of the Franks: Selections,
trans. Ernest Brehaut (1916; reprint, New York: Octagon
Books, 1965); Edward James, The Franks(Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1988); Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish
Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751–987 (London:
Longman, 1983); Ian Wood, ed., Franks and Alamanni in
the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective(San
Marino: Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social
Stress, 1998).